Rosa Italiana

The reviews are accurate. A great Italian restaurant! Go right for fine dining-​left for bar and brick-​fired oven. I bellied-​up and glad I did!
Frankie, owner/​operator I think, was making the pizza. I opted for the chicken alla rosa since the pizza came in medium and large and I was dining alone. Frankie baked some nice thin, crust-​like bread for sampling to show off the brick oven capability. Awesome! Simple and great! Then he mentioned he’d be able to do a personal size pizza, especially when they’re not too busy. I’m trying that next time.
No regrets on getting the chicken though. It was a couple of small breasts pounded out medium thin, roasted tomatoes, artichokes, mushrooms in a medium light white wine sauce. It was one of first Italian entrees I’ve had where the individual ingredients could be tasted and appreciated for their own taste. The veggies all stood out with great, fresh taste. I did start with the house salad with their house vinaigrette. Great dressing. Their bread with a sun-​dried tomato/​olive oil dip was very good too.
Then they ended the meal by offering a shot of «lemon cello» sample. So nice and refreshing!
This place is great and the people are fantastic! The 5 stars are coming next time when I get a pizza from that brick oven!

I’ve come here a bunch of times recently and i’m starting to get addicted to their pizza… It is soo good. It is thin crust and extremely flavorful.
The service here is superb! The guy Frank remembers us and always greets us. He also gives us limencello shots which we definitely appreciate.
The sangria here is awesome! THey are not skimpy with filling the glass either.
I also tried one of the shrimp in the shrimp diablo dish and it was so tasty.
All of the workers here are very friendly and helpful.
Parking can get a little crazy when they are packed.
Great place!

HORRIBLE SERVICE. The food was like any other run down Italian place around nothing to brag about. The staff was horrible and slow especially the middle aged lady who serves you with an attitude. It seems like you are inconveniencing her at all times. It took about 20 minutes to get two flat sodas. People that were seated 10 – 15 minutes after us were served quicker. This place is just a pizzeria that added some tables and call themselves a restaurant. They had two waiters serving about 6 – 8 tables. They were running around apologizing to customers for the lack of service. If you are looking for good service and authentic food La Sorrentina is much better

Food is quite fantastic. Everything was cooked to perfection. It’s difficult to find arancini that are well made, but this place nailed it. Their tomato sauce is also very tasty. We also ordered a margarita pizza which was delicious and cooked to perfection. Definitely coming back!

If you are a glutton for punishment, then this is your place! And if you want to commit suicide, then the cheese and extra salt (formaggio e sale) will expedite your intensions.
I went with two buddies of mine from Ridgewood. This place was recommended, and I am sorry to say I wouldn’t reciprocate the mention to my worst enemy.
To start, we ordered two appetizers. One, the Stuffed Artichoke, which was hidden under some kind of orange-​colored bread crumbs, then smothered with mozzarella cheese was tasteless! The other, Grilled Octopus, was slimy and did not have a grilled taste to it. But the greens that blanketed them were edible, however.
Next was the pasta. How bad can pasta be? Well…
«D» ordered the Lasagna, but it got lost in cheese. It had so much mozzarella piled on top that he could stretch it from the dish into the air up over his head! And the Lasagna was «mush» (poltiglia) and tasteless. Same went with the Baked Gnocchi that I had ordered, a lot of cheese. I don’t even know if it had sauce. Actually, I think they may have been the same dish. Who could tell?
«D» sent the Lasagna back and insisted on keeping it on our bill, which they kindly obliged. I couldn’t finish my Gnocchi. I tried picking at the globs of potato, but that was laborious and uneventful.
«E» ordered the Linguine with Clam Sauce. Good portion of clams. Tasty. But so much salt that a Roman soldier could have been paid handsomely for two years! He left no shell unturned, though.
A couple glasses of wine and before you know it… the dessert. Our waiter (from Slovakia or somewhere), a nice gentleman, didn’t know what Tartufo was, or that the restaurant even had it on their menu. «D» ordered that, I ordered the Ricotta Cheese Cake, and «E» ordered something else that he enjoyed. The desserts were pretty good, but I’ll bet «a pinch of salt» that they weren’t made on the premisses and were brought in from a local Italian pastry shop.
The espresso was served in fancy glass demitasse cups to disguise the watery coffee flavor. The fancy cups did not excite my senses enough to overcome the weak and unfulfilling taste that their ten-​thousand dollar espresso machine could offer.
Also, My Sambuca (on the side) did not have the traditional 3 coffee beans in it, which was odd. Usually, precisely three beans are added, to not only heighten the taste of the Sambuca and bring out the anise flavor, but they also represent the three blessings of Health, Happiness, and Prosperity.
In close, if you don’t really care about your arteries or your salt intake, then maybe you might enjoy this orgasmic place of formaggio e sale a little more than I did. But if you want to taste the true essence of Italian cooking, then I would look elsewhere. Some place with a nice sauce and a lot less salt and cheese.
This place in Garfield has no business calling itself and «Italian restaurant».
It’s a PIZZERIA! And I needed those three beans and its blessing after this meal, believe me!
(Maybe it’s owned by doctors?)

not bad pizza, dont deliver to passaic

Great place. Authentic classic italian. Much nicer on the inside then you would expect from the outside. Wish they had a better wine selection. It’s big but can’t find a lot of what I loved. Definitely worth a few visits.

Went here last Friday for dinner, we were seated right away and the servers were very attentive and family oriented over all. Calamari could have have been a little better. Their rice balls are amazing. And dinner was good.
Will definitely come back, I heard their brick oven pizza is delicious.

Carbonara… insane. Fresh fettucini. Bread fantastic with olive oil and herbs… and a balsamic reduction that is ridiculous. Wonderful.

Food is still good; however service has degraded since new owners took over. They aren’t necessarily rude but not very friendly either. Just small things like having to ask to have the table cleaned, reminding to bring the bread, having to ask for water refill, etc. Staff seemed overwhelmed.

The food is always amazing and the staff always treats my kids and I as if we are family. I love going here and never had a bad experience– I only wish it was bigger !

Not sure what’s going on at this place but it has been decreasing in quality at a rapid rate.

Sadly, I have to bump down their rating to 3 stars ever since this place has changed management. The menu remains the same, but the entire waiting staff and manager are different.
The food alone would still get my 5 stars, but the service during my last experience was terrible, hence the lower rating. My boyfriend and his family have been frequenting this place and were known by name and even by order. Everyone used to be so friendly and welcoming, and the service was outstanding. The other night, 4 things led me to update my review:
1) We were the only table that was not offered bread,
2) Our waters were never refilled
3) We were never checked on, unlike all of the other tables.
4) We ordered the calamari with ginger sauce, listed at $ 12. When our bill came, we were charged $ 14.50. The waiter explained it’s an extra $ 2.50 because «it’s made to order,» which I think is ridiculous because 1. the extra charge was not listed on the menu and 2. why are you charging extra for making something made to order (isn’t that your job?). They eventually took it off the bill, but the manager never came over to explain anything.
We definitely won’t be coming back here as often as we used to. We’ll take our business elsewhere where we’ll actually be waited upon.

3 stars because the people are so nice.
I’ve been here several times. I really wanted to like it.
It’s a little out of the way almost in an industrial area being the only Italian restaurant of it’s kind you would think it would be packed.
First time I was there there was one other table in the place. The service was good but the food was meh. I tried the fried calzone, hoping for a Pizza Town likeness but was sadly disappointed. The dough had some kind of odd taste to it.
The Lasagna with Bechamel Sauce was ok but nothing to write home about.
This time I had to meet some people so I wanted a quick glass of wine with my calamari. I got the wine very quickly but I guess it was my waiter’s lunch hour (about 2 P.M.) so he had to finish his lunch. I know how important this is because without lunch waiters feel neglected. Another gentleman brought out my app some time after I finished my wine.
The calamari… large chewy chewy chewy rings lightly seasoned and did I mention chewy, actually rubbery. I would have like crispier more seasoned and definitely more tender.
Antipasto…pinwheel antipasto just like you get at your local pizza shop. They use Mortadella (Italian Bologna) and domestic provolone. I think for $ 14 a serving they might consider imported provolone or they should go to Brazzarelli’s.
I can’t recommend the food but the people are wonderful. So if you’re looking for a nice glass of wine and nice chit chat go to Rosa’s.

Great local restaurant. Drove from Newark just to eat here since reviews were good. Was not disappointed with this neighborhood restaurant. Ordered a cocktail and a wood oven margarita pizza with half prosciutto. Delicious. Service was ok as expected for being a casual restaurant, but food was really good and I left very happy.

Today was our sixth visit to Rosa Italians, again with friends. We took advantage of the early dinner special (Monday through Fridays, 3 – 5 p.m.) and it was exceptional! Everyone was absolutely delighted with their choices! Those who had never been to Rosa Italiano before also were impressed with the selections as they were being served to other diners. Service was equally excellent.

Ok let me start by saying this is my favorite new local pizza place and they make a super good pie, a real pie. Cheap, delicious and well done in that brick oven, I don’t even need to say any more than that. I tried a chicken parm sandwich which was reasonably priced and also decent but it came with fries? I thought that was a weird combo but hey I’ll take it I guess?
The menu is super «Italian» which might scare off some people, I’m Italian and I wouldn’t try a lot of the dishes due to me being a picky eater and some of the ingredients don’t appeal to me. Over all I’d give them a 3.5 I wish they delivered but for all the pizza places in my area to even get that then they are doing good things, good things being well done brick oven pizzas at a reasonable price.

I would disregard any negative comments or reviews this establishment may have received because it must be from a rival pizzeria/​competing restaurant, or just the general douchebags who are never pleased with anything.
The food is not only cooked to perfection, but is also priced exactly right. It’s authentic and fresh, and obviously delicious. When I was having dinner with my family, one of the owners came and introduced herself to us and I don’t think I have ever met a more down to earth woman than Rosa. The other staff is polite, welcoming, friendly, and attentive.
Don’t even debate, definitely go here. you won’t regret it!

Nice little spot with a full bar.
It’s cozy, the décor is comfortable, and even with a packed restaurant it’s not too loud. The service was awesome, we never had to wait for drinks/​water, we never had to really wait for everything, it was great.
Apps:
Rice Balls — fresh, awesome, great tangy sauce
Stuffed portobello with broccoli raab, sausage, fontina over polenta — AWESOME!
Carbonara — creamy but not chunky
Veal — on the bone, perfectly medium rare
The desserts were good, but not phenomenal, the tiramisu was better.
The espresso is even good too.
Highly recommend this place, great wine selection too, extremely reasonable by the bottle.

As some of the other reviewers have pointed out, be wary of the possible many fake reviews this establishment has here on Unilocal.it has a quite unusual amount of four and five star reviews from people with no other review always a pretty fishy sign.
the biggest gripe i have is the quality of the food, the portion sizes which are very small and the high prices they charge. most as high if not higher then goodfellas which is much more superior in quality and much larger portion size.
If you want and are looking for good ital in Garfield skip this place and head to goodfellas. You will be paying the same prices, but at the added benefit that the food is better. The portions are much much larger and the atmosphere is much nicer.
For example the calamari at Rosa has got to be one of the skimpiest I’ve had, they are tasty and crispy but def not worth the price for the tiny amount that they serve you. On the other hand for a couple of dollars more the portion at goodfellas is easily four times the amount they serve at Rosa’s.
Then comes the entrees. This is the most appalling part of the dinner. I ordered a chicken parm and for $ 17 I was expecting more then one tiny cutlet that could barely feed my baby nephew.
Beyond that it was overcooked and badly breaded as if they reheated a piece of chicken parm that was precooked days ago.
Once again the chicken parm from good fellas was far superior. For one dollar more they serve you an entrée that is two to three times as much as Rosa’s that was also easily many times better in quality of the chicken and the execution on how it was prepared. Trust me quantity should not replace quality but when you strike out on both fronts I’m hard pressed to recommend this place and redirect you to down the street to goodfellas.